26th July 2021 : Rspb Snettisham
Adult Summer Western Sandpiper.
This blog post is a little bit out of sequence (should have been posted before last post) so apologises for that , however on the 26th July I travelled up to Snettisham in the hope of seeing the Adult summer plumage Western Sandpiper.
The news was negative at first but the tide was still on it's way in so the hope was it would appear on high tide, Snettisham is a magical place to wader watch and the sheer amount of birds is mind boggling !!!
Wader spectacle.
After approx 2 hours the Western Sandpiper was located roosting with Dunlin, so i eventually reached the area it was seen, unfortunately the Western Sandpiper was roosting out of sight below a ridge, however by sheer luck the Western Sandpiper walked out in front of us all for a few seconds before returning to the Dunlin flock and out of sight.
Sanderling.
As the tide went out the waders started to feed again including some stunning Sanderling, then once again the Western Sandpiper came out to feed very close in affording really great views, here are a selection of photos ;
Western Sandpiper.
3rd August 2021 : Rspb Minsmere
Pectoral Sandpiper & Ringed Plover.
A trip to Rspb Minsmere on the 3rd August proved to be a really great day out, we made our way around to the East scrape hide and almost straight away the Pectoral Sandpiper was in view and although fairly distant i had great views through the scope.
Pectoral Sandpiper with Dunlin.
Whilst watching the Pectoral Sandpiper i was informed that the White rumped Sandpiper was in the same area and sure enough within a few minutes the WRS walked out past the Pectoral Sandpiper.
A cracking looking bird and once again although distant i got some great views through the scope, the WRS was spooked by a Lapwing and flew towards the back of the scrape giving good views of it's white rump in flight.
Record shots of White rumped Sandpiper.
Both the White rumped Sandpiper & Pectoral Sandpiper remained to distant for photos all the time i was there, i did see some much closer Spotted Redshank including one in full summer plumage.
Spotted Redshank.
There wasn't huge numbers of waders here however the variety was good, i saw 14 species of wader today plus Little Gull and a good variety of Butterflies including White Admiral & Silver washed Fritillary in the woods.
White Admiral
Silver Washed Fritillary.
